Psy Darkness - Part 2
by Shade Acura
Summary: Part 2 – The Pursuit: Becoming honorary members of the Ghost Forces throws Squeak and Snivy into the forefront of the desperate search for the true motives of the Metagross army. Meanwhile Snivy is forced to work as a double agent, desperately juggling his loyalties to Haunter and the Ghost Forces, his friends Squeak and Prince and the sinister Honchkrow, Dubious.
1. Imprisonment

**0\. Imprisonment**

When Parasect opened his eyes he was in a room that was pitch black, laying on his side. The silence was so dense and pressing and the darkness so complete that he could've been dead. He tried to roll himself back onto his feet, but someone had fastened both of his large orange claws together so he could barely move them and manoeuvring around was difficult to say the least.

"Hello?" he called out briskly into the darkness.

Everything that had happened was a blur. He'd been travelling with the Golbaten force, a large Golbat called Alpha had hit him repeatedly around the head with one of his large wings when he'd been walking too slowly. This didn't bother Parasect too much; his _Tochukaso_ mushroom absorbed most of the impact, which had encouraged him to do it deliberately in order to annoy the Golbat. The next thing he knew they'd been jumped by a large number of Magnemite who had surrounded them and issued such large discharges through the air the Golbats had nearly all been paralysed. Parasect remembered with a silent flush of pride that he'd managed to knock out a good dozen of the Magnemite with his spore attack, which had enabled both him and the Golbats to run for it. Unfortunately they'd become split up and due to the fact that his claws were tied together he had been very restricted in his running speed, and when he came face to face with the Metagross, his _Tochukaso_ hadn't yet recharged enough for another spore attack and he hadn't been able to fight back, which annoyed him immensely. He could barely remember anything that had happened after that.

"Parasect?" a voice called out suddenly, making Parasect jump and spin around, fighting to keep his balance. There was no doubt his fungus hadn't been watered for at least a day, as when he tried to draw more energy from it, there was barely any left remaining but he managed to draw some and felt fractionally better.

"Who is that?" he snapped quickly

"Watch your tone." Came the unknown voice again

"Which Golbat?"

"Alpha."

Parasect groaned. Of all the Golbats he could've been imprisoned with it was this one, "Where are you?"

"In a separate room to you. I can only see you through glass of my own cell wall."

"How can you see me? It's pitch black in here."

"I'm a bat remember. I live in caves. It's usually pretty dark in caves." Alpha said in a voice dripping with sarcasm

"Okay I get it." Parasect wasn't in the mood for anything. After he'd recovered from the initial fear and confusion he was starting to feel angry and bad tempered. How _dare_ they keep him locked up here and all because of that godforsaken Snivy, "When I get back…" Parasect murmured low enough that only he could hear, "I'm going to kill that grass type." And a large part of him really meant it.

"Are any of the other force members with you?" came Alpha's voice from nearby again

"Not as far as I know."

"Ah. I'm with Omega. I guess that means Beta and Gamma aren't here." Alpha told him.

"I don't care."

"You should." Alpha sounded bitter, "All three of them risked their lives to protect you. So did I. If it wasn't for you none of us would be in this mess. The least you can do is care about whether they're alive or not. Beta and Gamma may have even flown back to go for help to get you out. Even you should care about that." Scowling to himself, Parasect didn't respond to that.

"Good evening." Said a voice and suddenly the room Parasect was in was lit up very brightly in an instant and Parasect felt as though he'd been blinded. Blinking several times and screwing his eyes up trying to force himself to adapt to the bright light, Parasect staggered forwards and hit something hard. He was staring at his own reflection. They wouldn't put a mirror in his cell, if that was what it was, would they? No…looking around Parasect squinted at the light. There were four large spotlights on the ceiling one pointing at each wall. There was no doubt that all four walls were made of glass and the lights were designed to prevent him seeing out. Instead he was surrounded by his own reflection staring out at him on all four sides. It was disorientating but Parasect stared in the direction of the voice and forced himself to glare

"Where the hell are we?" he asked his reflection furiously

"You expect me to tell you something like that?" Said the voice again and suddenly something struck Parasect

"I recognise your voice!" he exclaimed suddenly, finding it to be true, "You were the Commander in the Metagross base!" There was a brief silence from outside the glass chamber

"Yes." There was a faint irritation in the voice of the Metagross Commander as she accepted this statement, "Then you are the Parasect that we have been searching for. I surmised as much." There was another silence

"Why look for me?" Parasect called out again

"You broke into our base." The Commander said coolly, "We want to know how and why. You can give us this information voluntarily, or we can force it out of you."

"I'm not involved in any of this." Parasect spat feeling his temper reaching its limit again, "I don't know what's going on, ask the Golbats if you want information about the Snivy."

"You know about the Snivy?" there was an edge of surprise to the voice of the Commander

"Of course I do." Snapped Parasect

"Tell me what I want to know." The Commander seemed to abandon this point. Parasect wished he could see her facial expression to gauge exactly what she thought of this statement

"And you'll let me go?" Parasect asked aggressively, raising his claws

"No." the Commander said smoothly

"Then why the hell should I?" Parasect told her furiously, blinded by the injustice of it all.

"You'll regret it if you don't." was the only response he got

"There's nothing you can do to me." Parasect fell into an aggressive stance, blocking out the part of himself reminding him he was stuck in a glass box unable to see and for all he knew he could be facing a Legendary on the other side of that glass. All he knew was that Legendary or not when he got out of this box he was going to tear them to shreds.

"I'd think very carefully about that." The Commander warned him, her voice becoming gruffer, "You'll change your mind very soon. Tell us what we want to know and we might even consider returning you to Sinnoh."

"What?" Alpha's voice came from somewhere to his right, "What do you mean return us to Sinnoh?"

"You really think we'd keep you in Sinnoh, where the Ghost Forces can track you with their computers?" there was a sneer in the voice of the Commander, "Of course not."

"Where the hell are we?" Alpha's voice came again, furious

"That would be telling." The Commander's snide voice came again. There was no doubting from her tone that she sounded very pleased with herself, "But I'm sure you'll enjoy your stay, if you tell us what we want to know that is. And Parasect, I suggest you reconsider your position…especially if you want that mushroom on your back to stay healthy." Parasect had officially had enough. They could threaten him all they wanted, they could lock him up and blind him…but messing with his _Tochukaso_ was a line. And you never crossed that line. He charged his reflection and smashed against it with his claws as hard as he could, but he rebounded off the glass and tried fiercely again and again and again…it didn't help that his claws were bound together.

"We'll speak soon." And with that the lights went off in Parasect's cell, plunging it into darkness once again. Parasect let out a cry of rage and slammed both his claws into the glass again and again but it held true against all his efforts to break through.

"For god's sake calm down." Alpha said testily from the neighbouring cell

"How can you be so calm about this?" Parasect spat furiously, whirling in the direction of his voice, "We're trapped in another region, we don't even know which one, we've no way of contacting anybody, no hope of rescue and they're going to torture us for information we probably don't even have. All for some ridiculous grass type." He slammed his claws against the glass again with a satisfying ringing sound.

"For a start…" came another voice which between flashes of seeing red Parasect realised must have been Omega, "The Metagross have already made one big mistake…"

"And what might that be?" Parasect rested against the glass front of his cell feeling increasingly claustrophobic as the pitch blackness pressed in around them.

"What are you talking about?" Parasect asked dismissively, fighting to calm down. He could feel that expending so much energy like that had been unwise; the energy store in his _Tochukaso_ was all but depleted and he himself was starting to feel fatigued too.

"They've used the idea of darkness to hide what's inside this room from us." Omega told him, "But they've intelligently forgotten that Golbats have exceptional night vision. We can see everything in this room."

"Great. Perfect." Parasect couldn't find it in himself to be interested or grateful for this information. It didn't matter whether they could see him or not…it wasn't going to get them out of their predicament. He sat back down on the floor, folding his legs to his side, exhaustion setting in fast and deciding to preserve his strength. He wasn't going to look weak in front of the Metagross Commander next time she showed her face. And he was going to do everything it took to protect his _Tochukaso_.

"Do you remember the Pokémon that the Piplup, Squeak, mentioned to you?" Gamma asked and it was obvious to Parasect that he was talking to Alpha

"Hmm?"

"The Empoleon? His mother?"

"Oh!" Alpha made a sudden exclamation, "That's her!"

"Parasect…" Omega called across to him, "There are a group of cells like these across from us, glass boxes. We're sealed in a large warehouse type room, all sealed in glass container units. Across from us are another five glass cells but from what I can tell only two are occupied. One of them is an Empoleon, she looks to me like she's asleep. The other is a Pokémon I've never seen before in my life. Pink, looks vaguely like a squat Hippopotas with purple flowers painted on it…and it's floating."

"Very funny." Parasect said blandly, "I'm not in the mood for Arceus' sake."

"No, he's right…" Alpha's voice sounded again, "There is a strange Pokémon there floating about. But I've never seen it before, do you think it's from Unova, like the Snivy was?"

"It's possible," Omega's voice, "In which case…the Metagross Commander said we weren't in Sinnoh any more so as to prevent Mistress Haunter tracking us…there's no way they'd have brought us to _Unova_ is there?"

"What the hell does that mean?" Parasect snapped, though felt a small feeling of dread surfacing in the pit of his stomach, "What region is that in?"

"It's not in any region known to Pokémon kind." Omega sounded suddenly gloomy, "No one in Sinnoh has ever been there before."

"Looks like we're going to be stuck here for some time." Parasect closed his eyes but the darkness was so complete it didn't really make any difference.

"No." Alpha said aggressively, "Either we'll break out…or Mistress Haunter will come to find us and break us out herself. Mark my words…we won't be in here longer than a month." Parasect didn't have the mental strength left to argue with the Golbat's futile hopes. Even the ghost forces couldn't magically find their way to an undiscovered region. And for the first time since his teenage years in Ohclaw's colony…Parasect began to feel genuine fear, and he lay back resting against his fungus and let the darkness of the cell consume him.


	2. Descent to the Heart of the Ghost Forces

**2\. Descent to the Heart of the Ghost Forces**

Snivy didn't know where he was at first. He was distinctly aware of being drenched in a cold sweat and a dryness in his throat hinted to him he'd either been coughing or crying. The vision of the horrific world of grey still in his mind, it took him a few moments to pluck up the strength to open his eyes but eventually he managed it. He was lying in a soft bed covered with a blanket and staring up at a smooth white ceiling. Although the light was off, the room was dimly lit by a bright glow which hinted to Snivy that it must have been either morning or daytime. He pulled himself dazedly into a sitting position and stared around the room. It was like being in a hotel. The bed was pushed against one wall and there was a large floor length cupboard directly opposite the bed. The walls were cream, with one large violet painted wall behind the headboard of his bed. The soft daylight was filtering through the curtains covering a large window on the other side of the room. The room wasn't huge but it was comfortable. Snivy rubbed his eyes and lay back down. Glancing left he noticed a digital clock propped up on a bedside table and catching sight of this confirmed what he had expected, it was about ten o clock in the morning.

It was only then that the memories of the previous night, or had it been the previous day, began to flood back to Snivy in a massive rush and his few moments of relaxing in the comfort of the bed were over. Where was Squeak? Snivy sat up again so fast he gave himself a head rush and had to sit for a minute gathering his desperate thoughts. He climbed shakily out of the bed and looked around the room slightly desperately for any clues to his whereabouts…the last thing he remembered had been blacking out in that cave battling the Metagross and then having that horrific vision. What if Squeak was dead? Snivy hastened towards the door and fumbling the handle managed to open it. The door wasn't locked, that seemed to rule out his being captured by the Metagross at least… He swung open the door and something dived at him knocking him flat. For a second Snivy almost panicked and shouted out but within moments realised that wasn't necessary.

"Snivy you're awake!" his assailant was none other than Squeak giving his best friend a hug

"Squeak, you're alright!" Snivy said gratefully, smiling for the first time as his best friend released him from the hug, then he looked around the room again, "Where are we? What happened?"

"We're in the Veilstone HQ of the Ghost Forces!" Squeak chirped, flapping his wings enthusiastically, "The Ghost Forces saved us and brought us back here! We made it through Mt. Coronet! We did it!"

"We…" Snivy struggled with this information then a sudden almost inexplicable panic consumed him, "Squeak…if this is Veilstone then Darkrai might be here!"

"Uh huh!" Squeak beamed, hopping from one foot to the other

"We've got to get out of here!" Snivy wrung his hands through the leaves around his neck and made towards the open door, "Come on quickly we need to leave before they realise we're awake!"

He looked back at Squeak and with a faint flush of irritation through his fear saw an expression on the Piplup's face which said quite clearly ' _here we go again_ '.

"Look Squeak…" Snivy knew exactly where this conversation was going to head but he was not going to back down this time, "This is really hard for me to explain but I had a vision…"

"A vision?" Squeak asked in bemusement

"Last night…I had a vision. Darkrai was in it. He's not on our side he's responsible for all of this he wants you and Prince dead and he's going to try and kill you…" Snivy was trying to think how he could possibly explain this vision to Squeak but cut himself off when he realised that Squeak was shaking his head slightly sadly, "What?"

"It wasn't a _vision_ , Snivy…" he said earnestly, "It was a nightmare. It was just a stupid nightmare."

"It wasn't like that…" Snivy said forcefully, certain that what he'd seen hadn't been an ordinary nightmare, "One minute I was fighting the Metagross the next minute everything went black and I had this…"

"You fell asleep." Squeak cut him off, "We all did. I did. And you had a nightmare. So…so did I…" he shuddered to himself for a moment but didn't elaborate

"What?"

"They managed to wake me up from my nightmare…" Squeak told him before he could start talking again, "But they couldn't get through to you…you wouldn't wake up. So they tried to comfort you but I don't think it worked."

Something stirred in Snivy's memory of the unfamiliar low smooth voice trying to talk to him through the fog in the nightmare…

"I thought you trusted them now I thought all this had changed…" Squeak looked desperate, wringing his flippers, "You can't let one bad dream change this…not now we're going to meet Haunter."

" _What?_ " Snivy froze in place

"Snivy calm down you knew we were going to meet her…" Squeak looked genuinely worried now

"Snivy, you're awake!"

Squeak turned around and stepped backwards away from the door smiling again with a sideways glance at Snivy. Nova was in the doorway smiling at him, looking positively thrilled to see him.

"Go and meet Comet at the end of the corridor, Squeak, we'll be right behind you." Nova nodded at him with a smile and the Piplup gave Snivy the thumbs up again and vanished. Snivy simply stood there still shaking slightly. Nova entered the room and her smile fell slightly and she whispered in as gentle a voice as she could manage, "Snivy, are you sure you're alright?"

It was too much for Snivy. He broke down. He hadn't cried like this in years. The nightmare vision, the chase by the Metagross, still being stuck in Sinnoh with no way of getting home…

"It's going to be okay." Nova said in an extremely motherly tone and drifted over to him, cocking her head onto one side in sympathy, "I promise it's going to be okay. We'll find out who's behind this and have them sent packing. You'll be back in Unova before you know it." Snivy couldn't express his gratitude towards Nova for these words and tried to dry his eyes still sniffing.

"I…I had a nightmare…last night…" he hiccupped

"Yes…I understand." Nova said calmly, "That would've happened. You've got to remember it was only a nightmare, Snivy…there's nothing in it."

"And…" Snivy wasn't going to be stopped, "In the nightmare…I saw you…and you were being beaten by the Metagross…and you said I'd betrayed you…" Nova's eyes had widened and to Snivy's shock also looked slightly watery all of a sudden

"You had a nightmare…a nightmare tailored to your very worst fears…and one of the main things you remember was betraying me?" she studied the ceiling for a second as though fighting with herself, "That's…that means a lot, Snivy." She smiled

"I…I'm scared…" Snivy screwed his eyes closed so he couldn't see her any more, part of him hoping that he would wake up back in Unova, back in Nuvema Town, back home.

"We all are, Snivy. We may not look scared…but losing Alpha, Beta and Omega has hit all of us badly…" Nova admitted to him, drifting over towards the bed and hovering above it as though resting, "Crobat…he's been in a terrible state since it happened. Sometimes we just catch him muttering to himself and pacing around. The other night I saw him cry. We're all scared Snivy. But if we all work together we can pull through this. We can figure out who's behind this and what's going on. But we have to work together. You have to trust me…to trust us…" Nova smiled at him in a way which again struck Snivy as distinctly maternal, "We'll do everything we can for you and more, all we ask in return is your trust."

Snivy dried his eyes. He'd stopped crying now. In fact he was feeling slightly embarrassed and looked up at Nova's sincere expression with only a weak smile.

"You think you'll be okay?" Nova asked him, smiling broadly again

"Yeah…sorry…" Snivy apologised sheepishly

"Don't worry about it." Nova shook her head, "In fact, don't apologise. I can understand this is overwhelming. Are you ready to come down to the conference room?"

"I…I…" Snivy looked towards the door again

"Don't worry, you can stay with me if that'll make you feel more comfortable." Nova smiled, "Besides that's where the best food is." It struck Snivy hard all of a sudden that he was hungry. In his panic hunger had been pushed right to the back of his mind

"Ok…" Snivy said nervously

"It'll be fine Snivy." Nova grinned at him, "You'll see. Haunter can be intimidating at first, but I'm sure with time you'll grow very fond of her."

Snivy followed Nova out of the room and found that they were in a long corridor complete with large purple doors each with a number on it which reinforced Snivy's opinion that they might be in a hotel. As he left the room, the Gastly pushed the door shut behind him and Snivy caught sight of the number _312_ printed on it in silver lettering, underneath which was a sign on which was written _Strictly Private_.

"Come on…" Nova beckoned him and he set off down the corridor after her, glancing left and right at the doors as he did so which were all identical with the silver numbers descending down to _300_ before they reached what appeared to be a sleek elevator at the far end. Nova entered the elevator and helped him in afterwards. The doors slid shut and Nova examined the buttons on the elevator. Snivy made an intake of breath as he realised how many floors there were.

"Are we in a skyscraper?" he asked in amazement, registering the 100 or so buttons on the side of the lift

"Almost." Nova smiled and she pressed a button near the bottom of the column and the lift began to drop quickly, giving Snivy a horrible feeling in his stomach, "The Ghost Forces' HQ building isn't much to look at above ground but below ground, it extends right down underground we have massive offices and operation rooms down here." It also offers us a lot of protection from whatever might be up outside. We camped out down here during the mutant Banette attack five years ago."

"What's a mutant Banette?" Snivy asked

"Ah of course you weren't around…" Nova reminded herself, "I'll save that one for later it's a long story."

The lift clattered to a halt not long after that and Snivy and Nova emerged into a busy foyer. There were Pokémon everywhere, all of them wearing armbands or wristbands to signify their membership of the ghost forces. Snivy identified several Drifloon and Zubat, they seemed to be the most common Pokémon around and there were several more Pokémon that he'd never seen in his life. He recognised one Golbat in the crowd though wasn't sure which of the members of the Golbaten team it was.

"Welcome to the main foyer of the Ghost Forces!" Nova explained, her eyes sweeping over the foyer as they exited the lift, Snivy sticking close to her, "These are the main paths to everywhere…dispatch, training…and of course the canteen." As she said this Snivy caught a whiff of something which smelled utterly fantastic and felt his stomach rumble. Nova grinned at him, "You can eat soon I promise. Stay close, I don't want you getting lost in this crowd I'd never find you again." The two of them set off into the foyer. Nova needn't have worried, when Pokémon saw her coming they split into two to form a path, many saluted her. Snivy noticed just how many Pokémon there were giving him odd looks and muttering but tried to ignore them, focussing instead on the back of Nova's head. They reached the other side of the room and Nova approached what appeared to be another elevator but this one was guarded by what appeared to be two colossal cyclops who were observing Nova closely as she approached

"Cyk, Ylrk…." She acknowledged the guards

"Commander Nova…" the two Pokémon nodded their heads slightly lethargically in synchronisation, "…you just missed Commander Comet. She and the Piplup have already descended to level D." Snivy remembered seeing Commander Comet from the wanted posters. She was another one of the three Gastly Commanders in the ghost forces and on a rank equal to Nova's.

"I expected so." Nova smiled, "We'll be following if that's okay."

"Of course." The two Cyclops like Pokémon stepped aside to enable them access to the elevator and with a swift nod to each of them, she lead Snivy inside and the doors closed.

"What kind of Pokémon's a cycle rack?" Snivy asked her quickly, unable to stop himself, thinking of what she'd called the Cyclops guarding the lift.

"A cycle rack?" Nova asked in bemusement, then seemed to cotton on to what he meant, "Ohh…you mean Cyk and Ylrk? They're two of our Dusclops who guard the lift. I forget you aren't familiar with most Pokémon…Dusclops are ghost types. They're extremely useful as guards because they can _see_. They can't read minds but they can read souls. Very good guards indeed."

"Read souls?" Snivy asked in bemusement, feeling a slight shiver run down his spine

"Best not to dwell on it too much." Nova laughed.

The lift had started to descend by this point. Snivy once again got a slightly nauseous feeling in his stomach as they sped up, plunging deeper and deeper into the very heart of the Veilstone HQ.

"Ok Snivy…" Nova's tone had changed slightly and she suddenly sounded a little nervous. "Once we leave the lift, you must follow me very closely. And no matter what happens you must not speak."

"What?" Snivy asked in bemusement

"It doesn't matter." Nova said calmly though Snivy could see she was nervous, "But don't speak. Not even a word."

"Ok." Snivy promised her quickly though felt somewhat bemused that she was so nervous. This made him nervous too. The lift ground slowly to a halt almost two minutes later, making Snivy really think about just how deep underground they actually were but Nova neglected to open the doors yet.

"Stay very close." She warned him and pressed the button that would open the door. They emerged from the lift into a room that was very small compared to the foyer, only about the size of the room he'd woken up in earlier. Snivy strained his neck around Nova to try and look into the room to see what it was she was so scared about but to all intents and purposes the room seemed empty. Nova strode purposefully into the room and Snivy, remembering what she'd said, hastened to follow her. Nova had taken a few steps into the room when she stopped abruptly and Snivy almost walked through her, stopping just in time and looking around to see why she'd stopped. It was only then he noticed it. Lying almost right in the centre of the room was a rock. It wasn't a particularly special looking rock, it was cracked down one side and crumbling on the other. It was fairly large for a rock but was still definitely smaller than Nova's head. It was placed on the floor doing seemingly nothing except being a rock. Snivy remembering Nova's warning resisted the urge to ask why there was a rock placed on the middle of the floor and instead waited behind her.

"Commander Nova." Nova said suddenly in a loud crisp voice, making Snivy jump slightly, "Member of the Ghost Force's High Command with visitor." She fell silent again. Nothing happened. The stone didn't move and there was no sound in the room except the quiet clunk of the elevator as it set off towards the foyer again. Nova looked around at him and nodded and floated carefully around the rock being sure to give it a particularly wide berth and Snivy followed her hastily, staring at the rock in amazement. What was it about this rock that was so special or dangerous? They passed the rock and Nova pushed open a door, ushering Snivy through and closing it hastily behind her. They were in a small corridor leading to another door at the end. As soon as the door was closed Nova let out her breath and leant back against it

"What was that?" Snivy couldn't restrain himself, "Why was there a rock there?"

"It doesn't matter." Nova said firmly, "Come on…" she seemed to be her old self again and drifted off down the corridor without another word on the rock and it couldn't have been clearer to Snivy that she was not going to elaborate on the true nature or purpose of the rock.

The room they entered was extremely large and had a high ceiling. It was roughly square in shape and the far wall was covered in what looked like a good two dozen computer monitors most of which were dedicated to showing a map of the region. The other screens showed either images of different Pokémon or large amounts of scrolling text which it was nigh on impossible to read. But Snivy's eyes were drawn to a long conference table silhouetted in front of them. Around the conference table were sat several Pokémon which Snivy, following nervously in Nova's shadow began to pick out…some of them he could identify all with a slight nauseous feeling in his stomach.

As they got closer Snivy realised that there were seventeen Pokémon sat at the table.

On the left hand side of the table Snivy identified Mismagius, Starly, Tau, Crobat and Drifblim alongside another four Pokémon he'd never seen. On the right hand side of the table were two Gastlys of a similar size and stature to Nova, Squeak, Prince and Rampadon and what looked like a Metagross alongside what looked like an enormous rock snake he'd never seen before.

And there sat at the head of the table surrounded by a soft slightly menacing red glow, her hands folded neatly in front of her on the table watching him closely from across the room was the Mistress of the Ghost Forces herself, Haunter.


End file.
